Department may have exceeded its authority

Department may have exceeded its authority

Posted by on 9 November 2011

Maintaining adequate books and records for sales and use tax in the electronic age.

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has issued new guidance as to the standards for books and records in general and “point-of-sale” (POS) systems in particular. The standards enunciated, however, seem to exceed past legislative or judicial requirements and may in fact be impossible to satisfy.

These changes include more stringent standards for entities using automated POS systems as compared to their manual or register-only counterparts. Further, the increased requirements placed on users of POS systems may actually discourage their use in favor of traditional (and potentially less reliable) paper invoice and register systems.

Finally, the Department may have exceeded its authority in requiring POS systems to meet standards of reliability that exceed traditional systems.